Richard initially qualified as a veterinarian at the University of Bristol and began working in a practice with a large number of greyhounds as patients. Due to the number of greyhound he was seeing with corns, and due to the frustration of treating them, he began researching into the causes and treatment of corns. A passion and curiosity for one medicine and comparative pathology, as well a wish to learn more about the the one species (humans) not extensively covered at veterinary school, led him to go back to university to study human medicine.
After qualifying as a medical doctor, he specialised in diagnostic pathology and currently works as a consultant pathologist at Akershus University Hospital in Norway. During this period he has maintained his research interest in corns and has collaborated extensively with Mike Guilliard, and well as working on a ongoing project looking into the genetic aspects of corns with Professor Frode Lingaas at the Veterinary School at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences in As.